Hudson suspect's mother: He never hurt anyone

October 29, 2008

The mother of William Balfour, the suspect in the murders of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew, says her son is innocent, has an alibi for the time of the murders last Friday and has never hurt anyone.

"You all have put my son's face on worldwide news like he's -- like he's Attila the Hun," said Michele Davis Balfour, who staunchly defended her 27-year-old son in a telephone interview with Nancy Grace aired on CNN's Headline News Tuesday night. The news media, Balfour said, are "portraying my son as being the worst scum of the earth."

Instead, Balfour said, William and his estranged wife Julia, Jennifer Hudson's elder sister, still had a good relationship. "Julia's birthday was just last week, and she had invited my son to have a slice of cake with her," Balfour said. "People don't understand what's going on. My son loved her. She loved him."

The body of Julia's 7-year-old son, Julian King, was found Monday morning in a vehicle parked on the West Side. He had been shot in the head. The bodies of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and brother Jason Hudson, 29, were found Friday afternoon in the family home on the South Side. They too had been shot.

Police recovered a gun Wednesday afternoon in a vacant lot near where Julian's body was found. It was not immediately known whether the gun was used in the killings.

Police had issued an Amber Alert for Julian on Friday afternoon, naming William Balfour as a suspect. Balfour was arrested at his girlfriend's home on the Southwest Side about 6 p.m. Friday, but there was no sign of Julian. He remains in the custody of state parole authorities, but he has not been charged.

"Regardless to whatever anyone says, my son still loved Julia," Michele Balfour said. She denied that he was arrested on Friday, and said that he turned himself in. "The police did not apprehend him, OK? That was a lie. That was a lie," she said.

He was with "one of his girlfriends" at the time of the killings, and that woman can provide an alibi, she said. "Julia and William were separated, but they were still together. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Julia and William are still married, she said, but he has girlfriends and she has a boyfriend.

"William was not raised to disrespect no one, so he left the home," Balfour said. "He wasn`t kicked out. He wasn't put out. Julia wanted William back." The Hudson family was "not afraid of him," she said, and did not consider him a threat.

Balfour said she has not been permitted to see her son since he was taken into custody, and that she believes he has not been allowed to see a lawyer.